in the picture
Life of Pi ***
*ing: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan, Tabu, Rafe Spall and Adil Hussain.
Directed By: Ang Lee



Ang Lee’s Life of Pi is a magical movie that drags everyone to the cinemas because of the storyline and 3D effects. The most overrated movie of the year was stressful and nerve-racking. The trailers of the movie were attention grabbing, automatically making prospective audiences think the 3D effects would be amazing and it would be a delightful watch, but sadly none of that exactly lived up to expectation.

Life of Pi is the adaptation of Yann Martel’s prize winning novel Life of Pi, and no doubt the story was strong which kept one occupied, but as the movie wore on to its end, it was a drag. It literally made one just want to get up and leave; the story was so obvious, yet the director still had the movie going. It seemed as if they wanted to meet a certain amount of hours before the movie could end. I agree that the movie had to do justice to the novel and it did. But watching other movies that are also derived from a novel has taught us they don’t need to be never ending. 

Life of Pi is the story about a boy who is trapped with a tiger on a lifeboat in the deep blue sea. It is a narrative movie sharing the experiences of the boy who had grown into a man over the years and is sharing his story with a journalist. The movie is shot in a way that has the capacity to leave one amazed, it has very book illustration frames to go with dialogues, and one can easily deduce that the lines are maybe directly from the novel. The graphic shocks, chills and the technical effects are impressive and could be cool if they weren’t dragged down by the length of the film. Lots of people will watch the movie because of the 3D effects, and who can blame them?  It was a joy to watch colours and shapes burst up on screen and form a story. However, the 3D effects were only used in some of the scenes, while the rest of the movie could be a 2D watch too.

Coming to actors, the young boy in the movie is Pi, who is called Pissing by everyone in the movie, and is played by Suraj Sharma, who does an excellent job. Tabu who plays Pi’s mother is a supportive character, giving Pi the leeway to find his own path.

Tabu is always good in motherly roles and she maintains it here as well. Irrfan Khan is adult Pi. The movie sustains a graph of moods, with oscillating levels. There are some scenes which can make the most hard-hearted sad, while in the next scene, you will find yourself smiling.  There were even a few terrifying scenes that can make us jump on our seat, thanks to Richard Parker the tiger. The elderly crowd had tears in their eyes watching the movie, while the younger ones, we can safely assume, were thinking what they would do in a similar scenario. Ang Lee does a goodjob organizing every inch of the film, but then it starts careening, albeit very slowly, to its end

Life of Pi could be compared to Avatar, because they’re both 3D sensations here to rock our worlds,  but Life of Pi couldn’t overtake Avatar, technically or story-wise. Avatar had a different storyline and it was shot very well. Life of Pi had a couple of scenes that really amused viewers which were actually meant for 3D whereas Avatar on the whole was designed for 3D. Let’s just say Pi sailed that deep blue sea for far too long. Tighter editing could have made the movie more fun to watch. It is a onetime watch in 3D, but if you are not ready to sit through a drawn out storyline or ruin your 3D experience, then skipping is a better option rather than Pi(ssing) yourself off.

— Faiz Rohani
*CINEMATIC SUICIDE
**FORGETTABLE
***WATCHABLE
****COLLECTIBLE
*****AWARD-WORTHY